Our lives are in danger-Nigerians in I/Coast

Posted by admin National Politics, Presidency Wednesday, December 22nd, 2010

AS the political standstill lingers in Ivory Coast, a group of Nigerians living in the country have enjoined President Goodluck Jonathan to exercise caution on his level of interference so as not to jeopardise their lives and property in the country.

The group, in statement in Abuja and signed by its spokesperson and legal adviser, Mr Emeka Uchegbulam, of Univoice Chambers, said the intervention of President Jonathan as the Chairman of ECOWAS must not be guided by parochial consideration likely to cause a major friction between the Nigerian government and Ivory Coast.

Over five million Nigerians are living in Ivory Coast, with trade value of the Nigerian economic ventures in the country worth over a hundred million dollars.

But the group said lives and business concerns in the country were in danger owing to Nigerian government’s interference in the crisis.

The group said the interference of the Federal Government in the internal affairs of Ivory Coast “negates the principles of sovereignty of nations and the non-interference in other nations’ internal affairs, the rule of law, fairplay and democracy, even after a constitutional court of law, the only legitimate institution that adjudicates on any election petition issue in Ivory Coast, sat and determined the winner of the outcome of the general election held in that country.”

According to the statement, the outcome of the general election held in Ivory Coast, like most African countries, was fraught with electoral fraud, resulting in the absence of a clear-cut winner, which necessitated the ruling of the highest arbiter in the land.

It said the incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo was declared the winner amidst controversies.

“However, what is interesting here is not whether there was a controversy or not but how these controversies have attracted the international community.

“Nigeria should be careful not to allow her intervention in the Ivorian crisis affect the lives of over five million Nigerians negatively. The Ivorian electoral crises are fast becoming a military face-off between the contending parties.”

Meanwhile, the Federal Government has ordered the immediate evacuation of families of diplomats serving in Abidjan to Accra, Ghana.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Odein Ajumogobia, said this in a statement in Abuja, on Wednesday.

He explained that that the development was due to the escalation of tension and clashes between supporters of president–elect, Alassane Outarra and incumbent President Gbagbo.wp_posts